Student and Teacher

If you call yourself a Christian - that is a follower of Christ - this one verse gives you a lot to consider and contemplate. Here are a few...

• In your relationship with Christ, are you acting more like the student or the teacher?
• What have you - the student - learned from your teacher recently? 
• Are you - the student - fully honoring and respecting your teacher and His teachings? 
• Are you - the student - living out the teachings of your teacher? 
• Are there points when you feel like you are better - or know better - than your teacher? 
• Are there points when you live as though you are better - or know better - than your teacher?
• Have you been fully trained in the ways of your teacher? 
• If you are not yet fully trained, how are you seeking further training?
• If you are fully trained do you live, love, and serve like your teacher?
• What will you do next? 

Christian Walk and Riding a Bike

 Almost four years ago I wrote a post about teaching our daughter to ride a tricycle, and then a bicycle with training wheels (you can read it here). In this post I quoted author Robert Tuttle, who wrote that the "Christian walk is much like riding a bicycle; we are either moving forward or falling off".

I was recently reminded of this quote - and my post - when I took our son out to the church parking lot and he asked me to remove the training wheels from his bicycle.

Not only have I had the pleasure of teaching my oldest two children how to ride a bike, I have also had the great honor of baptizing them into the family of God. 

The same week that Zion took off on his bicycle on two wheels he was also baptized, both of these events happening at the church. Both of these milestones required teaching from me and commitment for them. And I will remember the joy of both of these events for the rest of my life.

A Jesus Timeline

We just began a teaching series on Sunday evenings - "Journey Through The New Testament". Below is part of the outline from week one  - "The Gospels". This is a brief (limited) timeline of Jesus' time on this earth according to the Gospel accounts.

Autumn, A.D. 28:

•          Jesus left Nazareth and went down for Him baptism

•          Right after His baptism He went into the mountains to be tempted by Satan

•          Then He went back to Salem, and then to Cana

◦          The first disciples were from there – John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel

Spring, A.D. 29:

•          The first miracle was at the wedding in Can

•          Jesus then moved to Capernaum, where he established His base of operations.

•          While Jesus was at Passover in Jerusalem, Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, came to Him at night and Jesus explained the need to be “born again” (John 3:16)

•          This was about the time of John the Baptists last testimony

 

Winter, A.D. 29:

•          Jesus met the woman at the well at Sycar

•          Jesus went back to Cana and healed the son of a royal official

•          Jesus healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda

Spring, A.D. 30:

•          John the Baptist had been imprisoned in  Jerusalem

•          In Galilee, Jesus began to broaden His public ministry

•          At the synagogue, in Nazareth, Jesus read from Isaiah and the townspeople tried to throw Him off of a cliff

•          Jesus left Nazareth and went back to Capernaum

◦          There He called four more disciples

•          Peter's mother-in-law and a leper were healed

 

Summer, A.D. 30:

•          Jesus healed a paralytic in Capernaum

•          Matthew was called

•          Jesus and His disciples picked grain on the Sabbath

•          Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath

•          Jesus preached the sermon on the mount 

Fall, A.D. 30:

•          Jesus healed a blind and dumb man in Capernaum and was accused of doing this by the powers of Satan

•          From this point on Jesus spoke publicly only in parables

•          The seven kingdom parables in Matthew 13 were spoken

•          The people accused Jesus of being Satan

•          Jesus rebuked the storm

•          Jesus encountered the demonic man in the region of the Gadarenes and permitted the demons to go into a heard of pigs

•          The disciples went back to Capernaum

Winter, A.D. 30

•          Jarius's daughter is raised

•          A woman with an issue of bleeding was healed

•          Two blind men and a dumb man were healed

•          Jesus arrived back in Nazareth and opffened people.

•          John the baptist was beheaded

•          The Apostles were sent out in pairs

•          Jesus returned to Capernaum

Sprint, A.D. 31:

•          The twelve apostles returned to Capernaum

•          Jesus then returned to Bethsaida, which became a major base

•          Jesus fed 5,000

•          Jesus walked on water and returned to Capernaum

•          Jesus preached His sermon on “the Bread of Life”

•          Jesus was accused of eating with unwashed hands

•          Jesus went to the region of Decapolis

•          Jesus healed a deaf and dumb man and fed 4,000

•          Jesus went to Magdela where the Pharisee's demanded a sign

•          Jesus took a ship to Bethsaida where he talked about the yeast of the Pharisee's

•          Jesus traveled north to Caesarea Philippi

•          Jesus went up on the Mount of Transfiguration

•          Jesus healed a possessed boy and returned to Capernaum

•          Jesus went down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles where He declared Himself to be the Living Water

•          He forgave a woman of adultery and returned to Galilee

Winter, A.D. 31:

•          The Samaritan's rejected Jesus

•          Jesus went to Perea, east of the Jordan and presented several parables

◦          the good Samaritan, the unrighteous steward, the rich man and Lazarus

•          Jesus sent out the seventy disciples

•          Jesus traveled to Jerusalem and healed a man born blind

•          Jesus stayed at Bethabara

Spring, A.D. 32:

•          Jesus traveled to Bethany

•          Lazarus was raised from the dead

•          Jewish leaders plotted to kill Lazarus and Jesus

•          Jesus moved to the village of Ephraim

•          Jesus encountered ten lepers and gave a number of parables

•          James and John's mother made the request that Jesus make her sons one and two

•          Jesus traveled back to Jericho where He healed blind Bartimeus

•          Jesus called Zaccheus and presented the parable of the ten talents

•          Jesus went to Bethany for His final week – the “Passion Week"

God Does Not Need Help

As a Pastor of a church - expected to speak to, hold the attention of, and introduce life transformational ideas to people week after week - I often search for interesting stories and illustrations for sermons and teachings. Often the stories and illustrations come up well short - rarely do I find a gem. More often, I will use a story from my own life, a lesson that I have taken from a life experience, or an illustration from my family or home life.

Yet - truth be told - I am sometimes in need of the perfect gen for a sermon or a teaching that I  create a story of my own. There is nothing wrong with that! Other times, I am down to the wire and I will adapt someone else's account to make it work in my situation. I don't see anything wrong with this! However, there are a few times that I have taken a life experience of my own or of someone else's life and I have embellished it - added to the details - to make it "better" or to make it more fitting to what I want to convey.

This morning I thought of a recent story that I had told and I realized the error of my ways. I was trying to help God by adding to the details of something that He had done in my life. And, whether we are willing to accept it or not, God does not need any help from any of us.

God does not need any help from any of us.

Authority from God and for God

In each of the four Gospels we read of how Jesus amazed the crowds with His words. He taught with authority!

Matthew 7:28-29; When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Mark 1:27-28; The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Luke 4:31-37; Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,  “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

John 7:15; The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such authority without having studied?"

I desire this type of authority. The authority that comes straight from God. The authority in teaching God's Word that amazes. 

But perhaps this is the problem. As long as I desire an authority that will amaze other people, I will not possess this type of authority in speaking and teaching the Word of God. 

John 7:16-19; Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

The desire for authority is not wrong as long as it is a desire for authority from God and authority for God.

As long as it is recognized that God is the giver of such authority.

As long as the authority given brings honor to God and not me. 

Authority from God will only come once I get rid of selfishness.

Revolutionary Parenting

I recently finished "Revolutionary Parenting" by George Barna, based on the research and data that was collected over several years from - what he calls - "Spiritual Champions" and their "Revolutionary Parents". Because there was so much content presented in each chapter, he included a section at the end of each chapter called "Rapid Review". The following are the reviews from each chapter.

• You cannot control the outcome of your parenting efforts.
• Your responsibility is to be obedient to God in raising your children; you must leave the outcomes up to Him.
• Revolutionary Parents are great coaches.
• Count the costs involved in expanding your family.
• Socioeconomic factors do not provide an excuse for failing to produce spiritual champions. 
• Parenting is your primary full-time job. 

• Focusing upon raising spiritual champions is the chief obligation in the life of Revolutionary Parents.
• Faith in God is very real and central in the lives of Revolutionary Parents. That faith is perceived as the most valuable asset they can transfer to their children.
• Raising a spiritual champion for Christ requires developing and sustaining an authentic relationship with the child, based on love and trust.
• The Christian faith of Revolutionary Parents must be continually maturing.

• The world begin influencing the values and beliefs of your children sooner than you may think. You've got to join the fray when your children are very young. 
• Set responsible goals for your children and stick with them. 
• Every child requires a unique strategy and plan. You can apply the same principles with each child, but you must customize the implementation. 
• Don't force your little people to become big people before they're ready. Let them develop at a pace that suits their God-given makeup.
• Nothing will serve your children better than working on instilling godly character. 
• Use your time well; establish your parenting priorities and major on them.
• You're not your child's best friend, only his or her best parent.
• Your kids need stability; provide the structure that gives the support they need.
• Use your local church as a support system, not as the leader of your children's spiritual development journey. 
• Never lose sight of the big picture of what you are striving to facilitate. Daily nuisances get to you if you're not careful.

• Pick your fights. not everything merits a confrontation. Be prepared to win your battles. 
• Establish clear rules and expectations. You are responsible for establishing guidelines your children can understand and follow.
• Establish and enforce a curfew.
• Participate in the selection of your children's friends. Those peers have a dramatic influence on your children.
• Identity the media regimen you will allow for your children. Limits must be set and enforced, or your kids' media diet will expand according to the time available.
• Empower your children to adopt your morals and values.
• Identify a model of discipline you will use, and deploy in consistently.

• You are in charge of your family. That must be the undisputed truth in the minds of all residents of your household. You cannot allow the kids to challenge or mock your authority.
• Always keep your emotions under control. never let your anger take over.
• When your children ask for an explanation of your decisions or reasoning, give it to them. They deserve it, and it becomes a teaching moment for you. 
• Don't shortcut your role by trying to deliver "quality time" without "quantity time" `as well. Always invest ample time in your relationship and duties with your children.
• Model the principles and behaviors you want the kids to adopt.
• Be consistent. Nothing undermines your efforts like waffling or changing gears.
• Take on the role of spiritual mentor with enthusiasm and expectation. 

• You can't pass on what you don't possess, so be sure you have a vibrant relationship with God. Pursue Him and practice good spiritual habits.
• Regard the Bible as your guidebook. Trust it and rely on it in all circumstances.
• Embrace the existence and significance of absolute moral truths revealed by God.
• Be active in a community of faith.
• Never push salvation on your children. Lead them toward Christ, encourage them to accept Him, but allow the decision to be theirs.
• Serve other people with your children.
• Pray, regularly, openly, and faithfully.

• Teach your children to think independently, based on appropriate principles.
• Be careful that you do not burden your kids with too much activity and responsibility. Just like adults, they can burn out or crack under the stress.
• Help them learn important faith skills, such as prayer, Bible study, and worship.
• Explore different faiths with your children, pointing out similarities and differences.
• Teach your kids the central beliefs and principles of Christianity, using stories and teachings that have personal and practical applications. 

• Children are God's gift to you. Enjoy and treasure that gift.
• Always look out for your children's well-being. It's your job to protect them.
• In raising your children, work as an inseparable, mutually supportive team with your spouse.
• Remember that your children were made in god's image, not yours; raise them that way.
• We were made to be obedient. Satan lives to undermine those efforts. Do what you can to foster a commitment to doing whatever honors God.
• Discipline your children. It's your job. Nobody else can do it as effectively, nor should yo expect them to.
• Provide a positive, nurturing home environment. 
• Show your children what Christianity looks like by the way you live.
• Be firm but gentle with them. You want to shape them, not break them.
• Work at helping them to understand the Bible. It's more important than any other book they will ever read.
• Purify their character. It will define them for the rest of their lives.
• Obliterate any obstacles to their relationship with God. 

We Ask "Why?"

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8)

This past Sunday evening I taught on the book of Job. Several thought come to mind as a person begins to read the book of Job. One question that I have been struck by time and time again; "What would come from a conversation between God and Satan concerning me?" Of Job God called him a servant, a blameless man, an upright man, a man who fears God and shuns evil, and said that there is no one like him in all the earth. 

If you have read the account of Job you know that this blameless, upright, God-fearing man was tested and tried - he lost his wealth, his home, his family, and his health. Yet, through all of this - even when his friends and his wife encouraged him to - Job did not lose his faith in God. 

There is an important thing to remember as we read the account of Job, we are privy to a conversation between God and Satan that Job never was. We see the details and hear the reasoning behind the suffering that perhaps Job never did. Perhaps Job felt as though God was cursing him and surely he felt as though the lot that life was giving him and the lot that God was allowing him to handle was not fair. Yet, he did not curse God and he did not lose his faith in Him. 

Looking at Job, watching him suffer and wrestle with the reality of his situation we find that it was because Job was "blameless and upright" and because he was "a man that fears God and shuns evil", this is why God chose Job to be the one to suffer - the one to face these cruel tests and unfair trials. 

Weekly I sit and hear of cruel tests that people are undergoing, horrible suffering that is going on, unfair trials that are being faced, burdens that seem almost unbearable. Daily we cry out to God, humbly bowing before His Almighty throne and boldly asking the question; "WHY?" And as we ask the question we are confronted with the truth; God is God and we are not. 

I know that you can do all things no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand. things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. (Job 42:2-5)

Psalm 2

Let's take a look at Psalm chapter 2,

·        In this Psalm, there are four stanzas of three verses each

·        Each stanza has a different focus

·        The focus of the first stanza is mankind

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” (Psalm 2:1-3)

We need to know some things about Psalm 2 first.

·        Like many Psalms, it was written by David

o   Acts 4:25: You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

Before we focus on Psalm 2, let’s talk about Acts 4, we’ll work back

·        Acts 2: The Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost

·        Acts 2: Peter addresses the crowd and 3,000 were baptized

·        Acts 2: House churches are formed and begin to spread

·        Acts 3: Peter and John heal a crippled beggar at the temple

·        Acts 3: Peter proclaims the Gospel message of Christ

·        Acts 4: The Priests and Sadducees were disturbed

·        Acts 4: Peter and John were thrown into jail

·        Acts 4: The number of believers grew to 5,000

·        Acts 4: Rulers and teachers of the law

·        Acts 4: Peter proclaims Christ’s message to the leaders

·        Acts 4: The rulers and teachers of the law were astonished

·        Acts 4: They released them with a warning

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. (Acts 4:23-26)

You see, Psalm 2 begins with a question about the people of earth;

·        What good is it if they plot against God – they must be fools.

·        Why do they try to outwit God – this is absurd. 

·        Nations might take a stand against God and against His ways

·        Rulers and leaders might gather and make plans against Him

·        They may say, let’s break this slavery that God has us in

·        They may say, why should we submit to this Jesus fellow

·        They may think that without God they will be free

And what is God’s response? 

·        Verse 4 takes the focus from mankind to God.

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2:4-6)

God’s Response is, first, an unexpected response

He laughs

·        God merely laughs at them, He is amused by all of their puny plans.

·        Psalm 37:13 says; “the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming”

·        And Proverbs 1 goes on; “But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.”

He rebukes in rage

·        In fierce fury, He rebukes the wicked and the evil doers

·        He speaks to them out of His anger toward them

·        The word anger here is the Hebrew word meaning “anger”, “wrath”, or, ”face”

·        This is the anger of man, an anger that we comprehend.

·        Basically, this is saying that God speaks to these evil doers face-to-face with words of anger that they can understand.

He terrifies in wrath

·        The word terrify is to “make anxious” or “disturb”

·        What’s more, the word wrath is so much different than the word anger used before, this wrath is the wrath of God

o   It is a heated anger, a burning anger

o   It is the word always used for God’s wrath

·        God fills these people with fear,

o   literally putting the fear of God in them

And why?

·        For the Lord declares, this is the King of my choice, and I have enthroned Him in Jerusalem, My Holy city.

You see, God is moving forward with His plan and His purpose and that is the establishment of the throne on which Jesus Christ will sit.

·        This upsets the plans of man, it upsets the plans of world leaders, and it even upsets the plans of religious leaders.

·        But it is God’s plan and for Christ’s throne to be established and so it will be done!

·        We may have to wait a long time before we see Christ enthroned over this world, but it is already a fact in God’s purpose.

·        There is no other King but Jesus!

So then, beginning with verse 7, we focus on Jesus, as He speaks

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” (Psalm 2:7-9)

To understand this passage, we must understand that this is regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ.

·        This is not the Gospel of grace and mercy that we are to preach today because this is not what Christ came to deliver when He walked on the earth.

·        This passage refers to the judgment that will come to all who disregard His message of grace, mercy, and love.

·        This passage refers to the judgment that will come to all who plot and conspire against God’s ways.

Listen to this paraphrase of verses 7 through 9; His chosen One replies, “I will reveal the everlasting purpose of God [listen up, here it is], for the Lord has said to Me, ‘You are my Son, this is Your Coronation Day. Today I am giving You Your glory.’ Only ask, and I will give You all the nations of the world. Rule them with an iron rod; smash them like clay pots.”

·        You see, that’s the judgment of Christ’s second coming

And then, in the final stanza of chapter 2, the focus changes again

·        First it was on mankind on earth

·        Then it was on God the Father in heaven

·        Next it was on Jesus Christ on His throne

·        And now it is on the Holy Spirit speaking to man

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:10-12)

This is the ultimate warning from God, directed at the kings and rulers of this world, through them, aimed at the people under their rule.

·        God is saying; Kings and rulers of the earth, listen while there is still time.

·        God is saying: Serve the Lord with reverent fear; rejoice with trembling. Fall down before The Son and kiss him before His anger is roused and you perish.

·        God says: I am warning you, His wrath with soon begin.

The most famous kiss in the Bible was in the Garden of Gethsemane

·        When Judas walked up to Jesus, armed guards following closely behind Him

o   This had been prophesied for hundreds of years

o   This had been planned since the fall of mankind

o   This had been spoken of by Jesus hours before

§  Clearly Jesus knew what was happening.

·        And what was Jesus’ response to this kiss from Judas?

o   “Friend, what have you come for?”

·        You see, Jesus was giving Judas one more chance to turn this kiss of betrayal into a kiss of friendship.

o   And, this is exactly what God’s Spirit is doing here,

§  Giving mankind one more chance!

But, Psalm 2 ends on a high note;

·        “Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him.”

·        Oh, the joys of those who put their trust in Him.